Medic
Chapter 23
Sasha's heart pounded harder with every second, wild thoughts flooding in on top of each other. *They left you. Nobody's coming. You should've run when you had the chance.* She pushed the thoughts down at first, but the heat inside the trunk kept building, sweat soaking through her clothes, until she was close to blacking out and started slamming her fists against the lid, screaming.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE! Let me out — someone, please!"
The banging carried further than she meant it to. Nearby undead picked up on it fast, drawn straight toward the sound of the car.
What felt like hours passed, her voice nearly breaking into tears, when she finally heard footsteps outside — uneven, dragging, a limp she could recognize even through panic. Then groaning, from more than one direction at once. That's when it hit her how badly she'd just given herself away. All she could do now was clamp a hand over her own mouth and wait, silent, praying someone would find her before anything else did.
The sounds kept closing in, bodies bumping blindly against the cars around her. She squeezed her eyes shut as it got louder, more distinct, until one sound broke through clearly enough to recognize — the wet crack of a skull being caved in, over and over. She stayed quiet, unsure whether to risk calling out, until the trunk finally popped open, flooding her vision with sunlight.
It took a second to place who she was looking at. Brad and Kaito, both a mess.
"What the hell happened to you two?" she asked, climbing out. Brad was bleeding steadily from the shoulder; Kaito was covered head to toe in blood, still scanning the lot on reflex.
"Quit yapping and drive," Brad groaned, the adrenaline finally draining out of him now that there was nothing left to fight. All his focus narrowed down to the wound in his shoulder. They loaded in — five duffel bags stowed in the back, Kaito riding alongside Brad, who couldn't walk on his own anymore from the blood loss. The makeshift bandage tied around his shoulder was already soaked through, barely holding.
---
Back at the hotel, Amy glanced toward Leo. "Shouldn't they be back by now?"
Leo hadn't moved from his post since morning. He already knew what it meant if they weren't back before dark — but he kept that thought to himself. "I'd bet they had their reasons. None of them know this area except Sasha. They're probably making sure they come back with enough to actually last us a day or two."
That seemed to settle something in Amy, and she was about to head back inside when an engine roared up the street, fast. Neither of them recognized the car at first — Leo ducked behind a truck, Amy behind a blue sedan — until it screeched to a stop and Sasha climbed out, already calling for Leo.
---
"Been meaning to ask — what'd you actually do before all this?" Alex asked, stealing a glance at Jane. She'd asked him to help with one of the laptops they'd hauled back from the mall, without saying what she actually needed it for, and he hadn't pushed for more than that.
"What's your guess?" she asked, clearly enjoying watching him fumble for an answer. She could tell exactly where his eyes kept drifting — it was hot enough in the hotel that she'd stripped down to a thin vest, and there wasn't much she could do about that except let him squirm a little.
He was still stammering through a half-formed guess when a loud bang echoed from somewhere down the hall. The noise sent both of them running to check it out — straight into Brad, drenched in sweat and blood.
"What happened?!" Alex gasped. This was so far past anything he'd braced himself for — how did a simple supply run turn into this? Then his stomach dropped further as he spotted Kaito, just as bloodied, standing frozen in the doorway, unable to look away from his own hands.
Sasha took charge fast, tying her hair back. "What happened?" she asked again, sharper this time.
For a second, nobody answered — Leo was as lost as everyone else. Then Kaito, barely holding on to consciousness, managed one sentence.
"We were attacked. Couple of guys. Brad's shot in the shoulder—" He didn't finish it. His body gave out mid-sentence, hitting whatever limit it had left.
"Get me a bowl of clean water and a towel," Sasha ordered, already moving. "Alex, I need the first aid kit from the cafeteria, now."
He just stood there, arms shaking, mind blank.
"ALEX! NOW!" That snapped him loose, and he took off, leaving Jane, Duncan, and Leo to handle the two of them.
Jane didn't hesitate. She tore open what was left of Brad's shirt, pulled away the soaked cloth Kaito had used to slow the bleeding, and pulled out a pocket knife, making it very clear what came next. The men held Brad down by his arms and legs while she worked the blade into the wound, searching for the bullet.
The pain was unbearable. Even gagged, Brad's groaning carried down through the floors below. It didn't let up until she finally found the bullet, drew it out clean, and stitched the wound shut with the kind of steady hands that came from actual practice. Within half an hour, his color was already improving.
"Just keep him from washing that off too soon," she said, nodding at the bandage. Her work there was done. Kaito was next.
She couldn't immediately tell how bad off he was, so she had him stripped to check — he was, after all, covered head to toe in blood that might not all have been his. Nothing below the neck, thankfully. His face had taken the worst of it — a swollen left eye, a nose that was very clearly broken. She smiled a little at that, almost fond, remembering patching her college boyfriend back together after every fight he ever came home from.
When she finally stepped back out, the rest of the crew was waiting, anxious. Duncan and Leo had cleared out once she started working on Kaito. Amy had kept her hands busy putting together something to eat, while Sasha and Alex sat in the hallway, tense.
"How's it look, Doc?" Leo asked, locking eyes with her. She blinked at the nickname for a second, then let it go, answering calm and steady, doing her best to take the edge off the room.
"They'll live. Brad should be up in a few minutes — his right arm's out of commission for anything requiring a trigger finger for a while, but he'll manage eating, drinking, and the bathroom just fine." She smirked, throwing in the joke deliberately to lighten the mood.
It worked. A few tired smiles made it around the room.
"As for our boy wonder — he'll probably be out until tomorrow. He pushed his body past its limit. That's all this is."
"Thank you. I don't know what we would've—"
"No need," she cut him off gently, reading exactly how genuine his gratitude was. It settled something in her too, some sense of actually belonging to this group now.
With that, the only thing left on anyone's mind was supper, and the crew made their way toward the cafeteria.
None of them noticed the figure watching them from the building across the street.
